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Vermont Health Department Recommends 60 Northwest Passengers Take Antibiotics

Aired October 18, 2001 - 12:27   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We had a bunch of these yesterday and we want to be very careful when we report them, but this one seems to have reached a level where we ought to mention it. The health department in Vermont is recommending that all the people who were aboard a Northwest Airlines flight that landed in Burlington, Vermont late Monday begin taking preventive antibiotics because on the plane there was a white, powdery substance. The health commissioner said that 60 passengers, crew, baggage handlers, emergency personnel may have come in contact with the powder. They're all going on antibiotics.

They tested it. The substance showed a rod-shaped bacteria that appears to be of the same family of anthrax. The bacteria growth means that the substance could be anthrax, but the health commissioner says: "We believe that is possible, but unlikely."

In any case, likely or not likely, 60 people who were aboard the plane, the baggage handlers and emergency services people on this flight, a Northwest Airlines flight to Burlington, Vermont on Monday are all going on antibiotics.

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